Dragon Age: Dreadwolf becomes The Veilguard

“We just found that when you’re playing the combat system, when you’re planning your strategies, two really felt like the right number to manage,” she said. “So keep in mind, [protagonist] Rook has a lot of different types of actions, abilities, and individual attacks that are more fully fleshed out than ever before. Timing and positioning really matter a lot, so this really felt like the right balance. The number of inputs and actions we’re asking you as a player to take, including directing your companions, is higher than ever before. [...] I engage with the companions, [and] actively control what they’re doing more than I ever have before in any of the other three games.”

Since it was revealed that Emmrich, the old man necromancer party member, would have a skeletal assistant named Manfred, Dragon Age fans have, perhaps predictably, wondered if you can kiss the lipless man. Rhodes shot down any notion of a Manfred romance, but he seems to imply that you’ll be able to do…something….with a skeleton at some point in The Veilguard.

“I would say, ‘not that skeleton,’ but we’re not saying ‘no skeletons,’” Rhodes responded to a fan asking to bone the bones.

“That is a feature that we like the idea of,” Rhodes said. “It’s not just player-facing, but internally it’s a really helpful thing for us as we’re building things out to have that. So we’ll let you know.”

Dragon Age: Origins had a canine companion in your party. That will not be the case in The Veilguard because the game takes place in northern Thedas, where the Mabari breed isn’t prominent. You can, however, pet Assan, Davrin’s griffon companion.

Having seen the character creator at Summer Game Fest, I can confirm The Veilguard’s character creator is easily the deepest one BioWare’s ever done. Busche confirmed BioWare will show it off publicly before launch in the fall.

“You can piss them off, they might not agree with you, and they might take some time away,” she said. “That said, this is the biggest threat to Thedas we’ve ever seen, so they are always going to be willing to show up to defend Thedas, but yeah, you can piss them off and they’ll leave for a minute.”

In Inquisition you had to choose between leaving either Dragon Age II protagonist Hawke or a Grey Warden leader in The Fade to help save the team from an ugly spider demon. Epler confirmed that this choice won’t play into The Veilguard’s story, but did say it might come up in a future game down the line.